Our fifth pre-season friendly saw us travel the short distance down the A24 to Isthmian Premier division side Horsham FC.

The Hornets have certainly done well since moving to their impressive new stadium, making the play-offs last season, having a good run in the FA Cup with national TV coverage and winning the Sussex Senior Cup at the Amex Stadium, so a real test for the Bears after their first season at Step 4 football.

Heath started brightly and had the first goal attempt when Kyle Sim's long throw-in was headed just wide of the post by Tad Bromage.

The Hornets gradually got the upper hand with Heath goalkeeper Billy Colling making a good save low to his right on 14 minutes but the home supporters didn't have long to wait for the opening goal which came just 4 minutes later from Harvey Sparks placing a left foot shot from 20 yards wide of Colling into the bottom right corner.

Horsham made it 2-0 in the 34th minute when Daniel Ajakaive received the ball wide on the right and attempted a pass inside which was intercepted by Sean Terry only for the ball to go straight back to Ajakaive who powered a low right foot shot past Colling to make it 2-0 at the break.

Both sides made wholesale changes for the the second half as the game opened up with the Hornets really buzzing in search of further goals but somehow they were unable to convert several chances that came their way, partly due to some good defending, some good goalkeeping by Alfie Hadfield and some maybe not so good finishing.

Heath did hit the bar in the closing stages but to be fair the home-side were well worth their 2-0 win, another really good work out for the Bears who will play their first pre-season friendly home game on Saturday when we host another Isthmian Premier division side, Chichester City.

A Big Thank You to the hospitality provided by Horsham FC and we wish them the very best of luck in the new season.